IMPRESSIONIST SCHOOL OF PAINT ING ( from Lat. impressio, from inn to impress, from in, in + prem ere, to press). A group of painters who endeavor to render the impression of an object, or being, exactly as it is in nature. Strictly speaking, every painter is an impressionist, in so far as he renders his own impressions, and the term `Luminists' has been proposed by Van Dyke as more appropriate, since the school is mainly concerned with rendering light. They constitute a branch of the Realist school, and are also called Naturalists, corre sponding to the modern Naturalist schools of sculpture and literature. They differ from Real ists like Courbet in that they conceive nature to present a series of Hat, colored surfaces, and not figures in rounded contours. Their pictures are marked by an absence of modeling.
The chief object of the Impressionists is to render the effects of light. They paint every thing in full light, and condemn the practice of painting in the studio as giving untrue tones. All their pigments are light. Bright colors are placed side by side. and the school avoids the middle tones by which earlier painters achieved harmony of color. Their works, being momentary impressions, are marked by great rapidity of execution. and seem sketchy in character. In deed, the members of the school have justly laid themselves open to the criticism of exhibiting unfinished sketches for pictures. So great a painter as Monet, for example, held an exhibi tion of studies of poplars seen at different times of day and seasons of the year. Closely inspected, their paintings seem mere blotches of color rough ly applied; but seen at a distance they' present pictures strikingly true to nature. Their rapid ity of execution enables the Impressionists to por tray motion and the nuances of expression to an extent not previously attained. Their figures are real men and women in the actions of daily life, not models posed in a studio. They took the final step in the liberation of modern art from ancient tradition in color—a revolution begun by the Romanticists under Delacroix, and continued by the Realists under Conflict. Being
the latest school, they have also come nearest to solving the specific problem of nineteenth century art—the representation of light, color, and moving life.
The Impressionists found their way to public favor very slowly. At first they were the sub ject of much ridicule. Mallet, the founder of the school, had to exhibit his first Impressionist pic ture in the Salon des Refuss in 1863. A power ful factor in their progress to public favor was their championship by Zola. whose articles in behalf of Monet attracted great attention. They were much aided by the picture dealer Durand fuel, who, at a time when they were generally condemned, held exhibitions of their •ol k side by side with that of the liarbison masters. It was not until the early seventies that critics and the general public began to take them seri ously. Painters, however, were quicker to recog 1.iz.e the progress in color and atmosphere which Lnpressionism represents. Its work is quite generally accepted and followed, and its perma nent influence has been to raise the pitch of light in present painting. It is, however, a question whether there will not be a reaction in favor of greater form and solidity in painting than is the present practice.
The chief French representatives of Impres sionism are Monet, the present head of the school, and Sisley, in landscape; Degas, Raliavfli, and Pissaro, in figure and genre painting. Its influ ence is strongly felt at Munich and Glasgow, and in the United States, where the chief representa tives are Weir and Twacht ma nn. The late Theo dore Robinson was also a prominent exponent of the school. Consult: Duranty, La nou relic prin t ure (Paris, 1876) Duret, Les pein fres pres sionistrs (ib., 1878) : Leconte. L'o•t impression ist(' (ih, 1S92) ; Muther, 11 istory of Modern Painting (London, 1896).